Some comments from Apostle Malm's acolytes. It's pretty bad when even diehard believers find it troubling that Meredith has declared a fast for his own healing.
Some I have talked to in LCG said that they will NOT be fasting this weekend. They said that Meredith won't fast for regular members when they are ill, so why should they fast for the bigwigs when they are ill. They are no more important than the regular folk.
One thing should be noted about LCG’s fast: it deeply troubles me that R. Meredith seems to use repeated enforced fasts not as a spiritual tool for his people, but more a political tool to his own benefit. He always uses terms like “leading ministers” or “leading elders” which explains to anyone that he Meredith is the “leading leading” minister. This latest fast is mainly for the health woes of LCG leadership. Boy when the Supreme Leader and/or his Lieutenants don’t feel well, the whole world should care! It’s odd that bizarre sicknesses keep striking LCG leaders more so than any other group I know.
So now members of the ekklesia of God, one of the most controversial (and the truth to tell one of the most detested)leaders in Church of God history has asked for your prayers for himself and others suffering from health problems and for his corporate business, LCG Inc.
I don’t know much about LCG, but if Rod M is very old and it is time for him to die (it will happen to us all), then perhaps we should pray that he will be able to finish off his last days, allowing God to work with him and helping him to give up his leadership of LCG.
Does he need to just accept that it is time for his life to end? I
A very large percentage of members of the COGs are dying either of disease or old age. Maybe it is just time to go and be in their place of safety (the grave) before the tribulation. If people are fasting perhaps it should not be for healing but that the members concerned straighten out their lives and repent of sin while we can. God is giving these people time to get their spiritual lives in order.
We can’t twist God’s arm into giving someone more time to do the things they want to do before they die.
What we should be concerned about is getting rid of the idolatry of putting ministers and the organisations on a pedestal as this letter from LCG is doing again. The death of a leading minister is no more important in God’s sight than the death of any other church member.
Rod Meredith over the years has consistently linked fasting with asking something of God, because there was a lack of faith, sicknesses and not as many healings as he wanted from God, yet his current letter indicates things are worse, not better. So, what “good” has been accomplished by those past fasts (usually on the Sabbath too)?
Rod Meredith (RM) wants those of his group to be: “…asking for His special mercy at this time and for the supernatural healing…”
But, as RM not read what God said about fasting and people lifting up their voices to Him to get something?
“Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.” Isaiah 58:4
I thought more about RM’s letter…where he wrote: “…let us all cry out to God for more of His Spirit, more of His power…” Isn’t that making one’s voice to be heard on high? Also, is God a respecter of persons? Why would God give more of His Spirit, and more of His power, to some sealed Firstfruits and NOT to other sealed Firstfruits of God’s Church? Does God have “favorites?”
I feel the leadership have used fasting to beat us over the head and convince us that any problems in the church organisation are our fault, not theirs.
13 comments:
We can’t twist God’s arm into giving someone more time to do the things they want to do before they die.
Roderick Meredith has done quite enough.
Dying well is not one of the skills one learned in the WCG/COGs. "We who are alive..." and "we shall be changed," sets one up for a false view of reality.
Or as Gerald Waterhouse told me when I asked him how he'd feel when HWA died, "I'll believe it after three days and three nights."
Pretty sad.
Perhaps RCM should have said how much he'd appreciate it if those that were so disposed would fast with him for peace, acceptance and perhaps a bit more time of healing. The mistake of course is to just call another "church wide" fast without either the "please" or "I would deeply appreciate it personally."
Dying well is not a skill most develope. Aging sucks but frankly, you only get old if you are lucky.
My dad turned 96 yesterday and was pleased to tell me he drove down to the DMV and renued his drivers license for 8 years..ha!
His doctor just told him "Fred, I'm concerned. You have an extra heartbeat and I want to put you one some medication." Dad said, "I'll take that under advisement," which means in Dad code, "no." Then he told the Doc "besides, at my age, you never know when you'll need an extra heartbeat."
That's a life nicely lived I think.
(Dad was an Elder in WCG back when and now goes every week to the same Church we all grew up in sitting in the same pew where I sat before my feet could touch the floor.)
RCM is afraid and not used to the realities he now faces, as will we all. We all will have a story and every story has an ending.
Some are learning what Egomaniac Putin is now learning. His macho, shirtless, fake archaeologist, fighter jet, insecure goof ball image is not serving him any more.
People aren't stupid. With all else going on in the world, people now feel they have permission to notice it and vote with their feet.
Splinter and sliver people are also noticing the humanity of their leaders and are less inclined to give them a pass for not understanding it.
I always keep a copy of "The Emperor's New Clothes, on the shelf just to remind me of our tendencies not to see in ourselves what others can obviously see.
Maybe LCG members aren't fasting this weekend because the fasting day actually is NEXT weekend - the 17th.
"It’s odd that bizarre sicknesses keep striking LCG leaders more so than any other group I know."
I think that is lack of knowledge, not a fact of actuality. These problems universally come with age but we are not monitoring other organizations in the same way and they are probably not publishing the self-agrandizing details of their top people in the same way.
The quote Douglas mentioned isn't quite backed up by the Bible.
King Hezekiah in the Old Testament pleaded with God after a prophet pronounced a death sentence, and God granted him 15 extra years.
Not that most people visiting this blog would believe that.
PS And however it goes and from my personal experience and even take on RCM, I don't feel the man has an insincere bone in his body. He's just used to being high on the food chain in ministry and the need to not work for anyone but be in charge. Dave Pack is the same which is why they fell out.
I have sat quietly with him (RCM) as he cried through the pain of his lost wife etc. He was not oblivious to that. I think God not healing really preplexed him and sent him spinning. And yes, I was there when he blinked on a detached retina and the prospect of losing his sight which was always a big issue with him. Of course all surgery is "reparative" as he tried to make a difference in but what surgery isn't.
I was once asked what the difference between an appendectomy and a cavity being filled was. All I could come up with was that in dentistry, the hole is already there leading to the tooth.
Any quirky behaviors or contradictory issues stem from (IMHO) "the eye that sees does not see itself."
Is ego involved? Of course. Are their contradictions? Yep. I just would not be willing in his case to attribute insincereity or duplicity to his motives or actions. RCM has his mindset and it causes problems, always have and always will.
The Apostle Paul also said and inflicted some pretty lame advice and teachings on others and also did not have the ability to either see it or apologize for it. Of the 24 times Paul is called an Apostle in the NT, he calls himself one 22 times and only Luke, his bioguy (or not) uses it 2 times of Paul. No one else thought Paul was an Apostle and certainly did not get any good ratings in Revelation or a place in the New Jerusalem.
Paul, like many COG one man shows, uses the personal pronoun "1" many many times betraying his self centered views. We can know Paul did not write Hebrews because that author rarely if ever speaks of himself or the "I". Paul, like many ministers, was too full of himself and it showed to others but rarely to them.
Dave Pack gets the trophy for the most number of "I"s in any one sermon. Hundreds. It's a symptom of a scued view of the self and most self evident to those around those who do it and can't see it.
This is just me. I accept the views of others as well. I just don't judge this one.
Sorry for the blather. Off to class
Tell you what: instead of fasting, how about we all share a a toast of our choice of libations! We could toast to FREEDOM!
Just watched "Finding Nemo" with my daughter. Reminds me of Dory singing: "No eating here tonight, no eating here tonight, no eating hear tonight, you on a diet".
he-he
It wasn't my quote -- it was lifted from the blog to make a comment. I'm aware of King Hezekiah.
And in those added years, Hezekiah had a son who was extremely evil and did great damage to Judah.
Perhaps by extending Roderick Meredith's life by 15 years, the same thing would happen to the LCG.
How soon will RCM call for someone to give him the last-ditch treatment tried on King David: a comely young woman placed in his bed to revitalize him with her warmth?
The kindest thing I can say about Rod was that in his own crude way, he was somewhat entertaining during the years that I was a student at Embarrassing College. I certainly do not remember him as a reservoir of wisdom or spiritual insights. Would he have risen to a position of leadership in corporate Americana? I tend to doubt it.
BB
At this point I've given up the idea of dying well... I'll settle for Roderick Meredith to just die -- end the misery now: The misery of the people tormented by him.
Post a Comment